Replace audio on a DVD

[danielmak]

I see that there is a similar topic in another thread but my question is a little different and I don't want to hijack that thread. Anyway, I have two copies of a soccer DVD. One has a very good image but the commentary is in Portugese, which I don't speak. The other DVD has a horrible image but the audio track is clear and has English commentary. I would like to extract the English audio and match it up with the action on the higher quality DVD. I am good with Pro Tools and a okay with other audio editing programs but less versed in video (although I have some friends that could help). I am wondering if there is a way for me to do this while keeping the video in mpeg2 throughout the editing and re-burning process) and maintaining a high quality audio. If so, can someone walk me through the steps or point me to a URL that covers this using a MAC? Thanks.

[tomlee59]

The basic idea is this: You want to demux each of those into its separate video and audio streams. Then, mux the good video with the English audio, after which you re-author and burn. Because you're just mixing and matching, no reencoding is involved, and there will be no degradation in either stream.

There are many possible ways of implementing this basic strategy.

[I am assuming that the two dvds are truly identical except for the quality/language issues. If they are not exactly the same duration, for example, this mix and match method will not work.] In any case, here's one way to do what you want:

1) Rip each dvd as single vob (not necessary, but it's simpler)
2) Demux vobs. (can use the demux tool within ffmpegx, for example, or bbdemux, or...)
3) Mux the streams you want in the final result (again, can use the mux tool in ffmpegx)
4) Author (can use ffmpegx) and burn.

[Frobozz]

If you have Toast you can add the .m2v file (after demuxing) to the Video window and Toast will ask for the audio file. Select the one you want and Toast will multiplex the files and author and burn your new DVD.

[danielmak]

Great. Thanks for the help. Now the trickier version. It does look like the video is a little longer for one of the two DVDs so that means I will need to do a bit more. I have access to a variety of video editing programs (e.g., Final Cut or other freeware programs). As I noted in my initial post, I'm less versed in video editing than audio but I can certainly do something like chop audio in pro tools (which would be exported--or bounced in Pro Tools terms--to WAV or AIFF) or in a video editing program. So, what do y'all recommend on this front? Will it be easier to demux both DVDs as y'all described (I have ffmpegX so I would use that) and then import the good video and English audio into a program to by synced or should I do this some other way? Thanks again.

[danielmak]

I wanted to revisit this thread I started earlier. A friend of mine is doing the same thing I asked about using a program called TMPGEnc Mpeg Editor for the PC. So, I have a couple questions about this process since I am working on a MAC:

1. Since I posted this original question in 2007 has the technology changed to the point where I could demux with ffmpegx or some other program and then add the audio in that program or another program so I could preview to make sure the new audio and video tracks are synched?

2. My audio and video are not likely to match up with a straight extraction (i.e., I will need to edit the audio). I am well versed in Pro Tools, so I could edit audio if there is something that needs to be trimmed (or I could add some silence/crowd sound if I needed to add something at the beginning). Can I do the video and audio work from a WAV or AIFF file if there (A) is a video program that will allow me to do this or (B) if I use Toast per Frobozz's suggestion earlier in the thread (i.e., Toast can import an AIFF or WAV file).

3. I would have a single VOB by extracting my DVD-Rs with MTR. If I demux with FFMPEGX, what settings should I use/choose to maintain the highest quality file?

Thanks.

[lordsmurf]

Some of this might help you http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/video/edit-dvd-mac.htm

[danielmak]

Some of this might help you http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/video/edit-dvd-mac.htm

Thanks, lordsmurf. This is a good tutorial, but I need to separate video and audio from a DVD-R, do the same from another DVD-R and then mix the best English audio track (DVD1) with the best image quality (DVD2) after I edit the audio so it will by in sync with the video.

[likwid8]

Seems I stumbled upon this thread through google. I would like to do the same but with a Retail disc I own. Currently it's got the english and spanish audio track as an option, but would like to replace the spanish track with french, and don't really care if the "spanish" is still viewable as the selection as long as the audio is in french.

In my scenario however I have a menu, based on this thread discussion I wasnt sure to tell if you guys were giving away the method on a dvd that had a menu or not. Either way was wondering if the methods discussed here would apply to my case, thanks.

P.S. The french audio is already reay to be joined but want to confirm if I can still mux everything back together and not lose the menu thanks.